I'm not sure if I know any 'functional' families, if functional means a family without difficult times and members who don't have a full range of problems.

When I transformed my random and raw words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into chapters, a semblance of order and sanity appeared where there had been only chaos and insanity.

How can both Nics, the loving and considerate and generous one, and the self-obsessed and self-destructive one, be the same person?

An alcoholic will steal your wallet and lie to you. A drug addict will steal your wallet and then help you look for it.

At my worst, I even resented Nic because an addict, at least when high, has a momentary respite from his suffering. There is no similar relief for parents or children or husbands or wives or others who love them.

I'm not sure if I know any 'functional' families, if functional means a family without difficult times and members who don't have a full range of problems.

We deny the severity of our loved one's problem not because we are naive, but because we can't know.